Traditional Village Landscape Integration Based on Social Network Analysis: A Case Study of the Yuan River Basin in South-Western China

Traditional rural Chinese landscapes have fragmented from the impact of rapid urbanisation and modernisation. Aiming to address this tough issue, the Chinese central government proposed the Traditional Villages Project, which is top-down traditional village management and conservation policy. A traditional village landscape network (TVLN) can be used to integrate rural landscapes and ensure the unified protection of natural and cultural landscapes. This paper aimed to establish a method of building a TVLN through three main steps: the calculation of the connection strength of traditional villages, calculation of the tie strength between traditional villages, and establishment of a TVLN. The results demonstrated the rich layers and stable structure of the Yuan River Basin’s TVLN, but there was a hidden risk in its stability due to the existence of tangent and isolated points. This TVLN quantitatively examined the characteristics and relationships of traditional villages and provided data support for the approval of traditional villages and protection policy formulation. A TVLN can support the overall conservation of traditional village landscapes, enhance their comprehensive value, and promote the sustainable management and cross-regional protection of traditional village landscapes.